Point of View

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo is written from the third person limited-omniscient point of view. Telling the story from this perspective allows the reader to be privy to the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of the main characters. Since Harry Hole is the protagonist during much of the story, the novel is written from his point of view. There are two main threads to the story. One is current day and the other is in the early 1940s during the war.

Writing from the perspective of Gudbrand Johansen in the trenches on the Eastern Front during World War II, the readers are not only introduced to the characters in that part of the story, but they are also educated on trench warfare and the horrors of war. One of these young soldiers reemerges in modern times as a deranged man set on revenge. Learning what the...